The Directors of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM: TLDH) are pleased to announce that on 14 July 2013 ICANN signed the first contract for a new generic top level domain, dot shabaka, under its gTLD program initiative (“the Program”). شبكة. (dot shabaka), which broadly means “web address” in Arabic, is one of over 100 Internationalized Domain Names (“IDNs”) in non-English scripts that have been prioritised by ICANN for early approval under the Program.
In total approximately 1,300 new domains are likely to be approved by ICANN over the next 16 months for introduction onto the web, ICANN having indicated that it will be signing 20 contracts a week where applicants have cleared all objections and are not in contention with another applicant for the same name. The order of signing and introduction onto the web will be based on the results of ICANN’s Prioritization Draw of 12 December 2012( previously announced by the Company on 19 December 2012).
Fred Krueger, Chairman of Top Level Domain Holdings, commented:
After 7 years of development, this is a momentous point in the web’s development. It marks a defining step in the largest expansion of the domain infrastructure since its inception. It likewise provides certainty and visibility on the contracting and launch timelines for all of the new domains.
Top Level Domain Holding anticipates contracts will be signed with ICANN for the first nine uncontested domain applications in which it has an interest before the end of Q1 2014, with a further eight before the end of 2014, and the remaining five uncontested applications in which the Company presently has an interest in the first half of 2015.
The Company and its clients are continuing to progress discussions with third parties to resolve remaining contention sets in which the Company and its clients have an interest. The Board expects this process to complete by the end of November 2013 with ICANN then signing contracts so that their introduction into the Internet root can still follow the timeline order of the Prioritization Draw.
Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Top Level Domain Holdings, said:
We are delighted that this milestone has been reached, and look forward to ICANN completing the contracting process in a speedy and orderly manner. We are likewise confident that the final pre-delegation testing and delegation into the Internet root will proceed in an equally efficient fashion. We are confident that TLDH is exceptionally well positioned to emerge as a major gTLD registry business.
For further information, please contact:
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
North America
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: +1 917 406 7126
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
N+1 Singer (Broker)
Matt Thomas
Tel +44 (0) 20 3205 7500
gth media relations
Toby Hall/Suzanne Johnson Walsh
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2
About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly-traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.
About Minds + Machines
Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits, and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds and Machines Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings Limited.